The flatrate model proposed by Jim Griffin and Warner Music which tends to be falsely described as a “music tax” is gaining ground. Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired.com’s Epicenter blog has more details and this still looks almost exactly like the plan Griffin had layed out during a panel at SXSW in March.
Users, in this specific scenario students at U.S. universities, will be able to freely use any kind of source for digital music – no matter if these sources are considered legal or not by current standards – in exchange for a monthly fee paid in connection with the users’ internet service. Music bundled with broadband, music flatrate, blanket license – call it what you want.
Epicenter has learned that EMI and Sony BMG have signed on to the Griffin/Warner plan and that a new third-party organisation dubbed Choruss will be charged with collecting the fees and distributing royalties to copyright owners. Apparently every student in this latest approach would be charged an extra $5/month for unlimited access to un-DRM-ed music. Can you hear Gerd Leonhard say “music like water”?
The slideshow which reignited the debate was shown at a variety of schools, including Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Penn State, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Washington and University of Virginia.
No details yet on who will monitor usage of the networks and how they will document which music was downloaded most in order to assess payout via Choruss. What about BigChampage?
More action to come, I hope.
[...] Choruss is trying to make inroads onto U.S. college and university campuses. Watch a video by Warner Music’s Jim Griffin explaining the concept during his keynote at the Digital Music Forum East. You’ve read about this before, here and here. [...]